Category Archives: Friends for life

The usual suspects, McGoo, Renato, Alex, and I have been knocking out the sheet metal on the KZ. I wish I had a brake, shear, and tig but an endless supply of cut off wheels, c clamps, hammers, a one inch thick steel fab table, a mig, and my retard strength is what we have. Now for mounting, welding, and more grinding. I figured out a color scheme finally along with foot controls and a few other things. Now to make it all.

Born Free this year was much different than any other show I’ve done. I had customers picking up work and past customers stop by to show me work I’ve done for them. Almost all my work gets mailed out so it’s nice to be able to hand someone their finished project. It was really cool seeing how great everything is holding up. The wallet with the skulls and water had been to Iraq, Germany, and a few other places since it left my hands. I also had many friends come by the booth and hang out for a few minutes. I enjoyed visiting with everyone and I’m looking forward to the next time.

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I guess it’s time to do another bike. I have been thinking of one for a while now. Over the last few months everything came into place to get it going. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look in my head but getting the frame made is out of my fabrication abilities. Once I have a frame and front end I can do the rest here. Of course with the help of friends. To me that is the fun part of building. I enjoy making something and having McGoo, Alex, Renato, etc. tell me it sucks. I guess it’s the payback for me constantly doing it to them. While at the time it can be frustrating it makes for a much nicer bike in the end. This time I decided to go with something bigger for the engine. My friend Alex found a 1981 CHP KZ1000 sitting in disrepair. I snatched it up and came up with a plan. My friend Paul Cavallo, Spitfire Motorcycles, is doing the frame and front end for me. After shooting ideas back and forth with each other here is what we came up with.

If my life depended on it I couldn’t give you specs. Paul and the Mikes somehow translated my babbling and hand gestures into exactly what I had pictured in my head. All I know is the neck is 48 degrees, 10 over Spitfire girder, and it’s 9 1/2 feet long. 19 inch front and 16 inch rear HD 13 spoke wheels. Not sure how tall but the neck is LOW! We measured the trail one day when I was down there and it’s an easy to handle 5”. I was shooting for a digger, of course, on steroids. I think it may work. I love how wide the motor is compared to the frame.

After having both a girder and springer on my last two bikes It was an easy choice of what I would use. I know everyone likes springers but in my experience they don’t even come close to a girder. So with Spitfire Motorcycles making a super nice girder it was an easy choice. So here are a few pictures with the front end and wheels on it just to give you an idea.

There is no way I could do this without the help of Friends in and out of the industry. Some of them are Spitfire Motorcycles, Biltwell, Weisco, Wire Plus,and Spectro Oils. I’ll keep you updated with the progress and showcase everything I use on the build. I’ve always been sort of secretive when I had a build going but want to share this one step by step. I’ll be posting pictures here, Chopcult, and on my Facebook Page. I’m looking forward to evenings in the garage with friends figuring this thing out. Hopefully Alex, Renato, and McGoo are up for it also.

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One of the greatest air museums in the world is only thirty minutes from us. The Planes of Fame Museum restores their aircraft to flying condition. They don’t care if it’s the only Zero in the world with it’s original motor or one of the flying wing prototypes. Once they are done with it they will fly the hell out of it. It’s amazing to go to their air shows and watch a Mig 15 and F86 Sabre chase each other around. They do that with rare aircraft all weekend long. Last time I went to the museum my friend Steve Garn, (Brew Dude), and my son Wayne. Here are a few pictures.

F-105 used for target practice. Sidewinder strike. My buddy Darin cut his head open pretty bad crawling around under this one a few years back.